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Seamless Multiscale Forecasting: Hybridizable Unstructured-mesh Modeling

and Conservative Two-way Nesting

P.F.J. Lermusiaux, P.J. Haley, Jr.,
C. Mirabito

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ocean Science and Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Project Summary
Ongoing MIT-MSEAS Research
NOPP-supported Publications
Additional Links
Background Information

 

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This research is sponsored by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP).

Project Summary

One of our research thrusts is to derive and apply advanced techniques for multiscale modeling of tidal-to-mesoscale processes over regional domains (nearshore-coastal-basin) with complex geometries including shallow seas with strong tides, steep shelfbreaks with fronts, and deep ocean interactions. On the one hand, our conservative implicit two-way nesting for realistic multi-resolution modeling has enabled such high-fidelity coupled multiscale dynamics studies. On the other hand, a high-order multi-dynamics modeling capability based on novel hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) numerical schemes is also promising for seamless conservative multi-resolution forecasting. These two research topics are the backbones of our NOPP research project.

Background information is available below.

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Ongoing MIT-MSEAS Research

Long-Term Goal

Improve, utilize and verify:

  1. HYCOM-downscaling schemes and conservative two-way nesting schemes for seamless multiscale forecasting and dynamical analyses of realistic coupled physics at abrupt topography, and
  2. High-order non-hydrostatic HDG schemes for high-fidelity, conservative, and efficient multi-dynamics modeling.

Objectives:

Presentations and Meetings

NOPP-supported Publications

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Additional Links

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Background Information

This project is part of the collaborative NOPP effort on the topic of "Forecasting from the Deep Ocean to the Coast".

Predictive skill in ocean forecasting continues to increase through improvements in model resolution, data assimilation, and better representation/parameterization of physical processes. While advances in modeling have been achieved for both the open and coastal ocean, the two regions are often not connected or coupled in the operational ocean forecast systems. The Navy has transitioned a global version of the HYCOM ocean model at 1/12° horizontal resolution into operations, and is currently running a tide-resolving 1/25° global ocean model in research mode. While these models enable improved basin-scale ocean forecasts, this spatial resolution does not adequately capture the full range of submesoscale dynamics and small-scale processes that are important in many local and coastal regions. Since processes and dynamics of the open ocean often drive the variability in local and coastal domains, higher-resolution models are often nested within global models to simulate and predict these fine-scale features, with communication occurring through imposed boundary conditions. As global models increase in resolution and complexity, the nesting of regional and coastal models must be done with care to ensure that the appropriate spatiotemporal information is passed through the lateral boundary to allow the finer-scale model to reliably reproduce the salient physical processes and dynamics of the smaller domain.

Additional information is available from the funding announcement.

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